The Executive team

Chief Executive

Dr Sue Matthews, RN BA MHScN DPH Wharton Fellow

Dr Matthews joined the Women's from the Niagara Health System in Ontario, where she held the position of interim President and CEO from 2011-2013. Prior to that, she was Executive Vice President, Clinical Operations and Chief Nursing Executive for two years.

Dr Matthews has held positions as Ontario Vice President, Operations and Chief of Practice, as National Executive Director of Disease Management for the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON), and as Provincial Chief Nursing Officer with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. She has advised Ontario’s Premier, Minister for Health and government on nursing and health system issues, and provided strategic leadership and advice on health system transformation. She has also fostered partnerships and collaboration between government, nursing and other stakeholders.

Dr Matthews holds a Doctor of Public Health degree along with a Master’s in Health Science Nursing degree from Charles Sturt University. In addition, she has a Bachelor of Liberal Arts in Health Studies degree from York University and a Diploma in Nursing from Ryerson Polytechnic University. Dr Matthews is a Fellow of the Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia. She is also a Clinical Associate Professor at McMaster University, an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto and an Adjunct Professor Faculty of Health Services Management at Charles Sturt and Trent Universities. Dr Matthews is an active researcher in the area of health services.

A recipient of numerous awards in recognition of her nursing work, Dr Matthews was also named as one of Canada’s top 100 most powerful women by the Women’s Executive Network in 2004 and received the Canadian Nurses Association Centennial Award in 2008

Chief Communications Officer

Tania Angelini

The Chief Communications Officer is responsible for leading the development and implementation of all media and communication strategies, systems and protocols at the Women’s that are aligned with, and contribute effectively to, the strategic directions and business objectives of the Women’s.

The primary purpose of the Chief Communication Officer is to promote and protect the Women’s reputation, maximising potential opportunities and minimising risk. The role will involve close interaction with the media and large numbers of internal and external stakeholders

The position provides direct support and counsel to the Chief Executive, executive leaders and the Women’s Board on all matters with potential to impact the Women’s reputation and standing, including media, issues and crisis communication and customer and stakeholder management.

Chief Midwifery and Nursing Officer

Laura Bignell

The portfolio of the Chief Midwifery and Nursing Officer (CMNO) has responsibility for professional leadership of midwifery and nursing at the Women’s. This includes, strategic, operational and industrial issues of relevance to midwives and nurses. The CMNO is responsible for ensuring the Women’s attracts and retains a high calibre midwifery and nursing workforce that espouses the Women’s values, and is competent and accredited to practice. The CMNO works with internal and external partners to enable the Women’s to maximise all available opportunities to plan, professionally develop, and effectively use its nursing and midwifery workforce.

Chief Executive Officer, Women’s Foundation

Jan Chisholm

The Women’s Foundation manages all fundraising and philanthropy for the Royal Women’s Hospital. The Foundation’s aim is to increase the capacity of the Hospital to deliver better outcomes for women and newborns by strategically managing income growth.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Women’s Foundation is responsible for developing the Foundation’s strategy in alignment with current and future requirements of the Hospital.

The Chief Executive Officer takes a lead role in representing the organisation and fostering relationships with donors, corporate partners, philanthropic foundations and the community.

Executive Director
Information Management and Technology

George Cozaris

The Executive Director, Information Management and Technology has executive responsibility for the strategic leadership and operational management and delivery of Information Management and Technology services at the Women’s.

The role is responsible for developing and leading the implementation of the Women’s Clinical & Information Technology Strategy along with an information governance framework ensuring the value of all information is identified and exploited to its fullest extent.

Chief Medical Officer

Mark Garwood

The Chief Medical Officer is responsible for providing the professional leadership of the Women’s medical staff to achieve the highest standards of clinical practice and patient-centred care within the health service.

The Chief Medical Officer ensures that clinical and medical leadership is in place to enable the delivery of high quality health care across the Women’s in support of the health service’s strategic directions.

The position oversees medical professional standards across the organisation and provides advice to the Executive on professional medical issues including medical workforce planning and management, clinical innovation and service development.

The Chief Medical Officer is accountable for medical governance, workforce, education, training, professional practice, leadership development, medico-legal matters, university relations, and is responsible for managing the Research domain including Research Governance, Research Facilitation and Research Strategy.

Executive Director
Clinical Operations

Damian Gibney

The Executive Director Clinical Operations has executive responsibility for the leadership and management of the clinical services of the Women’s to ensure effective, efficient and integrated high quality clinical services are delivered, consistent with the Women’s strategic and annual operational plans.

Executive Director
Finance and Corporate Services

Zak Gruevski

The Executive Director, Finance & Support Services has executive responsibility for the leadership of financial management across the Women's including the provision of strategic and financial advice to the Chief Executive/Board/Executive; contributing to strategic planning, leadership and management of the hospital; and providing executive leadership and management of the Women's Finance and Business Support services and non-clinical support services such as purchasing, food services, imaging and pathology

General Counsel

Vicki Hammond

General Counsel is the in-house lawyer to the Women's and is responsible for the provision of day to day legal advice to the Chief Executive, Board and Executive on key legal issues and legislation.

General Counsel is responsible for legal risk management, compliance with the law and making sure that staff understand their legal obligations. The aim of having an in-house lawyer is to ensure that legal risk management is skilfully handled and that there is a proactive approach to the management of legal issues and risk.

Chief eXperience Officer

Sherri Huckstep

The Chief eXperience Officer is responsible for the development, implementation and evaluation of the Women’s Creating Exceptional Experiences Strategy which is the cornerstone of the Women’s 2016-2020 Strategic Plan. This position is responsible for creating an organisational culture that ensures the Women’s realises its commitment to put patients and consumers at the heart of everything we do.

Executive Director, Strategy & Planning

Allison Kenwood

The Executive Director Strategy and Planning is responsible for the development, implementation and evaluation of the Women’s strategic plan and associated service planning, creating a culture of continuous improvement and achieving performance targets across all areas of the organisation. This position is responsible for ensuring the Women’s has a sustainable future as a leading Women’s health service provider, and for driving a culture of innovation, building effective collaborative relationships with strategic partners, especially within the Parkville Precinct, as well as government, VCCC, universities, donors and other women’s health organisations.

The Executive Director Strategy and Planning is responsible for developing, and periodically reviewing and evaluating best practice governance policies, systems and processes for the organisation, its Board and directors. As well as responsibility for the overriding management of programs and services initiatives such as the Victorian Parenting Kit, Strengthening Hospitals Response to Family Violence Project and other service initiatives.

Executive Director, People, Culture and Wellbeing

Juliette Long

The Executive Director, People, Culture and Wellbeing is responsible for leading and driving the Women's strategic people agenda, aligning contemporary people and organisational development practices with the Women’s values, and ensuring high level management of human resources. The role has responsibility for developing, empowering and supporting our people to create a safe, satisfying and engaging workplace and deliver an exceptional patient and consumer experience. It has a focus on building organisational culture and capability, employee engagement, organisational development, workplace safety and the development of leadership capability.